Pizza and Wine
by christmasinacup
Summary: Neither of them envisioned the night of their second kiss to go this way. Very fluffy.


_Set after "Millennium." Felt like writing some slightly domestic MSR fluff. Please leave feedback! I could be tempted to write another chapter._

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Dana Scully was usually a very healthy person, but she was moody. And when she was moody, she craved junk food.

She called and ordered a pizza and then decided she wanted ice cream five minutes later. Might as well have a snack while waiting for the pizza, she thought. She took a pint of chocolate ice cream out of the freezer, stuck it in the microwave for 15 seconds to soften it up and grabbed a spoon.

She and Mulder had kissed on New Year's Eve a week ago, and neither one had brought it up since. Her first instinct after the kiss - which was lovely, by the way - was to enjoy it for what it was and continue being platonic partners. But then she spent the two days following the kiss constantly missing the touch of his lips. Sometimes she could still feel them, like a phantom.

When she and Mulder gave their report to Skinner, he suggested they each take a few days off. She was hyper-aware of every movement Mulder made for that hour and 17 minutes they were together turning in the report and talking to Skinner. She tried not to stare at his lips, but she was unsuccessful. When they parted ways in the parking garage, part of her hoped he would make a move. Kiss her again, ask her to dinner, even just ask her what she planned to do on her time off. All he did was wave and say, "You relax, Scully. You deserve it."

So she went up to Maine and stayed in the same cabin she rented every few years. It had been too snowy to go outside much, but she read four books by the fire and listened to some of the Louis Armstrong records the owner kept. She brought a cookbook up with her and tried out a few new recipes while watching Star Wars in the background. No matter what she did, she couldn't stop thinking about Mulder.

Was he thinking about her? Did he wish that he'd made a move? Did he wish _she_ did? Or was he just playing video games with Byers, Langly and Frohike without giving her a second thought?

She was so anxious the night before they went back to work that she barely slept. Did she want him? Or was it better to trust her initial instinct, which was to keep her emotions in check?

The next morning, she changed her outfit three times and managed to leave the house 45 minutes earlier than she usually did. She got to the office before Mulder and when he arrived, she nearly jumped to her feet. He handed her a coffee, smiled and sat down at his desk. She thanked him and sat down in the chair opposite him.

"So, I found some pretty interesting reports concerning lights in the sky in Bethesda…," he started. She wilted a little bit inside. He hadn't even asked how her mini-vacation was.

So, here she was. A few days later and the case had been a dead end. Shocker. She admired his determination, as always, but she had been a little less patient with him this week because of how… normal he'd been acting. In the weeks before they kissed, he's been flirtier more than normal. She caught him looking at her more often and he'd been more touchy.

There was a knock at her door and while it seemed to early for the pizza, she hadn't really been paying attention to the time. She set her ice cream down on the kitchen counter, wiped her hands on her jeans and opened her door.

Unless Mulder had taken a side job at the pizza place without telling her, that was not her pizza.

"Mulder, I…" she started. He cut her off by sprinting forward and placing a tender kiss on her lips, not unlike their kiss on New Year's Eve. Just a bit clumsier.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling away from her and gazing at her with his puppy dog eyes. "I didn't know if you felt the way I did and I was scared."

"Mulder," she whispered, cupping the back of his head with her hands and drawing his lips back to hers. "I love you."

She felt the hairs stand up on the back of his neck and he kissed her like he wanted to drown in her. He finally came up for air, grinning from ear to ear.

"I love you too, Scully," he whispered. "Damn, I thought I'd be the one to say it first.

"I'm full of surprises," she said, stroking his cheek. He grinned. Just as she was about to go in for another kiss, her doorbell rang. She jogged over to the kitchen table to grab her wallet and Mulder sighed.

"Scully, how many men are coming over to perform romantic gestures?"

Scully just laughed and opened the door, handing the pizza guy a $20 bill and taking the box from him. Mulder shed his jacket and hung on the back of one of the dining room chairs.

"Dinner is served," Scully said with dramatic flourish, placing the pizza box on the table. Mulder actually guffawed - he rarely saw the goofball side of Scully.

"How did you know? Pizza is my main love language," he said, lifting the lid. Sausage, bell pepper and onion.

Scully handed him a plate and, in another shocking un-Scully-like gesture, gently squeezed his ass as she walked behind him. His eyes widened.

"Dana Katherine Scully, I never…"span class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p

She giggled. "Shut up and eat your pizza, Mulder."

"You're the boss," he said as they sat down opposite from each other. He waited for Scully to serve herself and then grabbed two hot slices, depositing them on his plate quickly. He looked up to see her looking at him like he was a sleeping puppy - a soft smile of peace and happiness.

"What?"

"Nothing, I…," she jumped up suddenly, distracted. "Oops!"

"Huh?," Mulder turned in his chair to see her putting the lid back on the chocolate ice cream and putting it back in the freezer. He hadn't noticed it before. "Nice pre-dinner snack, Scully."

She rolled her eyes and licked the spoon before setting it in the sink. As she sat back down at the table, she cleared her throat.

"What I was going to say was that all this week, I've been grumpy and on edge," she started, taking a bite of pizza. Mulder wanted to say he'd noticed, because he had. He thought she was maybe on her period, but didn't dare say that out loud to her. She'd kick him out on his ass faster than he could say "pizza."

"Because I thought you didn't have feeling for me," she finished, making direct eye contact with him. His jaw dropped and a tiny piece of sausage fell out of his mouth. She stifled a snort with her perfectly manicured, slightly pizza-greasy hand.

"Sorry," he said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. "I…. jesus, Scully. Why?"

You seemed a bit… I don't know," she admitted. "You were acting like everything was normal after we kissed, like nothing had changed."

He chuckled. "I - foolishly, it now seems - thought that's what you would want. I didn't want to put pressure on you or treat that kiss like a big deal. I assumed you saw it as just an impulsive kiss that was part of a social tradition."

"Well, I did at first…," she said slowly, finishing her first slice of pizza. "But the next day, I couldn't stop thinking about… well, about your lips."

Mulder smirked, obviously proud of himself, as she expected. She swatted his hand across the table.

"It's not attractive to gloat," she warned him playfully. He held up his hands.

"Hey, I didn't say a word."

She shook her head and smiled. "Anyway, I felt like you were showing less interest than usual and thought maybe you didn't think the kiss meant anything. Or that you'd kissed me and gone, 'huh, okay, guess I did that.'"

Mulder frowned. "Kissing you was never just something to check off my list, Scully."

"I know, I know you're better than that," she said. She looked down at her plate. "I thought that maybe… it wasn't what you hoped it would be. That you'd decided the idea of me was too built up in your head." she mumbled. She took another bite of pizza, not wanting to make eye contact. She felt stupid for saying it, but being more honest about her feelings was one of her resolutions.

Mulder reached across the table and titled her chin up so he could see her eyes.

"The idea I have of you isn't some fantasy to build up, Scully. When I think about how much I want to be with you, I think about moments like this. Getting to see your playful, goofy side that you used to pretend you didn't have. Sharing dinners with you at home, not some random restaurant while we're out of town. I think about the board games you'd probably beat me at and the ones I could maybe win, and sitting at opposite ends of the couch reading on Sunday mornings.

"Really?," she asked, eyes slightly widened. He nodded and smiled.

"Really. Was I sure if we'd ever have that? Not always. But I've been feeling more and more optimistic lately."

She smiled and took his hand, squeezing it. They looked into each other's eyes for a while. Scully studied Mulder's sharp jawline and he noticed that she wasn't wearing any makeup and still looked unspeakably beautiful.

"Mulder?"

Yeah?"

"Which games would I beat you at?"

He laughed. "Um, probably Trivial Pursuit. Maybe Scrabble, but I think I could win a few rounds. Monopoly and Clue are harder to pick a winner for, they're so different when played by two people vs. four or five."

She smiled mischievously. "We could settle the Scrabble debate now…."

He nodded. "Oh, it's on."

She raised her eyebrows, accepting the challenge, and stood up from the table, grabbing their plates. When she passed him to get to the sink, she leaned down and kissed him softly. He kissed back, releasing her lips after a few seconds.

"The games are under the stereo," she told him, rinsing the plates and putting them in the dishwasher. He strolled over to her living room, knelt down beside her entertainment console and pulled out the bottom drawer. She had quite a few games down there - Battleship, Trivial Pursuit (he knew it), a few decks of cards. He realized as he pulled out Scrabble and started to set it up on the coffee table that seeing the inside of Scully's living room game drawer felt oddly intimate. It was a revealing thing that told you a lot about a person.

Scully joined him in the living room, setting two glasses of red wine on coasters. He raised an eyebrow.

"Wine after pizza? Plot twist."

She chuckled. "Wine is better than beer."

"No complaints here," he said. "Wine has a better chance of intoxicating you and taking you off your game."/

Scully feigned shock, her rosy lips forming an "O." Mulder leaned forward and kissed her perfect lips, sliding his tongue into her mouth. She smiled against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck. She started to climb on top of him and pretty soon they were making out on her floor.

After a few minutes, Scully sat up abruptly and straightened her shirt. She moved to sit on the opposite side of the coffee table. He looked up, confused. Clearly, they'd been enjoying themselves.

"Now I've thrown you off your game," she said with a smirk. She took a sip of her wine and then began to dish out the tiles.

Mulder pretended to be offended, but he was pretty impressed. Dana Scully was a formidable opponent. Not that he was surprised by that.

When he kissed her on New Year's, he hoped for nights just like this. Domestic, cozy nights where he could just be with her outside the office. Where they could just be themselves and be happy. They both deserved happiness, and he'd always hoped they'd find it with each other.

"Mulder, you ready?," Scully asked, pulling him down from the clouds. He licked his lips.

"Oh yeah. You're going _down,_ Scully."


End file.
